s with a stern reproachful look, he shuddered
slightly, for they looked to him more strange and fixed than ever,
having so strange an effect upon him that he could not put his reproach
into words.

"Well," said Leoni lightly, "calmness is the best remedy for a trouble.
Gentlemen, I will watch by our master's side; you are young, and had
better go back to your chambers and try to sleep. Of course it would be
madness to attempt to escape."

CHAPTER THIRTY NINE.

A DEATH WARRANT.

"Well," said the King, on the following evening, "you have them
prisoners?"

"Yes, Sire."

"Safely?"

"They are back in their old apartments, sir," replied the chamberlain.

"What, not imprisoned?"

"No, Sire; they are carefully watched, but they are still your Majesty's
guests."

"Absurd!" cried the King fiercely. "This man can be no ambassador. He
is a marauder, a masquerader, who came to my court to act the common
thief."

"But the letter, Sire, of which he was the bearer?"

"Is as false as everything else concerning him. My guests!" cried the
King fiercely. "My prisoners! This man shall die."

"But that will not restore the jewel, Sire."

"What!" cried the King angrily. "Have you not got it?"

"No, Sire. They were carefully searched, but it was not found."

"Then he shall be forced to confess where it is."

"I have not told your Majesty all yet," said the chamberlain.

"Then why have you not?" cried the King fiercely. "Speak out, man;
speak out!"

"Your Majesty checked me," replied the chamberlain deprecatingly, "The
Comte was--"

"The Comte!" cried the King contemptuously.

"Then this member of the Valois family, as you believe he is."

"But no--absurd! Let him be the Comte de la Seine; one who has come
here under false pretences, a pretender. Whoever he is, he is my enemy,
fate has placed him in my hands, and he shall die--ay, if it costs me a
war with France. But mark me well--he dies as the thief who under the
mask of a French nobleman entered my palace to plunder. The world shall
see in this matter only the just punishment of a crime." And as he
spoke the King drew towards him paper and seized a pen. "Short and
sharp punishment," he said, "and in thus acting I clear the way to the
throne which by rights is mine."

The chamberlain stretched out his hand in an imploring gesture, the
while a mocking smile played about the King's lips.

"Sire," he said, "hesitate now. Think well of what yo